West Springfield man gets up to 10 years in fatal crash

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Jacob N. Dudenhoefer repeatedly stood in Erie County courts to face drug and alcohol-related charges in the two years leading up to the morning of Sept. 22, 2012.

But none of those prosecutions deterred Dudenhoefer, an Erie County judge said Tuesday.

Instead, Dudenhoefer, while his driver's license was suspended, got behind the wheel of a car with a blood alcohol content more than twice the legal limit on Sept. 22 and killed 69-year-old Melvin Huyck Jr., who was driving to buy some coffee for himself and his wife of 50 years, Marguerite.

Dudenhoefer's prior record and the rear-end collision on Route 20 that killed Huyck earned Dudenhoefer a prison term of four and a half to 10 years Tuesday.

The sentence from Judge Shad Connelly was just six months shy of the maximum allowed by law. Dudenhoefer, 23, must also pay court costs, $4,000 in fines and $9,772 in restitution, Connelly said.

Connelly called the crash a tragedy.

"It appears that a kind and gentle and loving man was lost," the judge said.

Dudenhoefer owes it to Huyck to "do whatever good you can do with whatever time you have left on earth in honor of the memory" of Huyck, Connelly said.

The sentence came after Dudenhoefer on March 4 pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence of alcohol; driving under a suspended license, DUI-related; and driving under the influence of alcohol and marijuana.

Police said Dudenhoefer had a blood alcohol content of 0.17 percent when the 1999 Chevrolet Lumina he was driving at a high rate of speed rear-ended a 2001 Ford Ranger on Route 20, west of Route 215, at about 5:15 a.m. and killed its driver, Huyck.

The legal limit for driving in Pennsylvania is 0.08 percent.

Court records show Dudenhoefer had pleaded guilty in 2010 to charges of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, and in 2011 to a charge of DUI. In August, a month before the crash that killed Huyck, he twice pleaded guilty in district court to summary charges of driving on a suspended driver's license.

Dudenhoefer's lawyer, John Moore, said Tuesday he had warned Dudenhoefer in the past to stop driving under a suspended driver's license.

Moore said the crash that killed Huyck finally seemed to change Dudenhoefer's life.

Dudenhoefer read from a written statement Tuesday. He apologized, saying his crime makes him sick to his stomach.

"I know I caused you immeasurable pain," he said to the many members of Huyck's family who crowded the small courtroom.

Assistant District Attorney Lisa Ferrick credited Dudenhoefer for pleading guilty and sparing the Huyck family a trial. But she said Dudenhoefer's prior record of alcohol and drug offenses could not be overlooked.

"He should have been on notice that his behavior needed to stop," she said.